LS results 2019: Smriti Irani leads in Amethi

In a major development, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Amethi Smriti Irani is leading in the constituency with over 14,500 votes against Congress President Rahul Gandhi, according to official trends.

Amethi is considered a stronghold of Congress. The party has not been defeated here in the last three decades, except in 1998.

Rahul has been winning on the seat since 2004. Despite the poor performance of the party in 2014 general elections, the Congress President had defeated Irani on the seat with a margin of more than 1 lakh votes.

Amethi went to polls on May 5 in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections.

Meanwhile, Rahul, who is also contesting on Kerala's Wayanad constituency, is leading against Communist Party of India's (CPI) candidate P P Suneer by a margin of nearly 6 lakh votes. The constituency went to polls on April 23 in the second phase of LS elections.

The Lok Sabha polls that commenced on April 11 and wrapped up on May 19, saw approximately 900 million voters exercising their franchise and deciding the fate of 7,928 candidates across 542 seats in the country. Out of those candidates, 724 were women and four were transgenders.